Peter Sims is a best-selling coauthor, strategic adviser and keynote speaker specializing in leadership and innovation. He is the coauthor (with Bill George) of True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership, the BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal best-selling book that New York Times called “one of the most important books on leadership to come along in years.”

Peter was kind enough to participate in our “In the Spotlight” interview series recently and he shared some enlightening insights on the True North book, authentic leadership, and his current work on the subject of leading innovation.

TSG: How did you and Bill George connect for True North?

Peter Sims: I met Bill after he gave a great speech at Stanford Business School. We got to know each other much better in the months that followed because he was starting a course on leadership at Harvard Business School that was very similar to a course I was establishing at Stanford with a group of classmates called “Leadership Perspectives.” Although we were not successful in luring Bill to teach at Stanford, he and I would speak once a week or so to trade ideas, insights, or best practices and, before long, we were collaborating on True North.

TSG: What was the experience of creating True North?

Peter Sims: I loved it - I have never learned so much, so quickly. I was initially drawn to the book in part because we could pick up where Jim Collins left off in Good to Great - how do individuals go from good to great leaders, or “authentic leaders”? Bill describes authentic leaders as those who stick to their values and lead with purpose to empower others, similar to Collins’ Level 5 leaders. Our research team conducted 125 one-on-one, in-person interviews, out of which I did about 50, including with Howard Schultz of Starbucks, long-time presidential advisor David Gergen, Charles Schwab, eBay CEO John Donahoe, and Donna Dubinsky. The interviewees did not know what they were going to be asked in advance, but we learned that, without exception, they believed they were more effective as leaders when they were authentic.

Much of the critical acclaim for True North has come from the fact that the book is based on revealing and oftentimes eye-opening research about the influences, experiences, and concrete development tactics that shape leaders. I use those lessons and insights everyday - the hardest part was determining the most important and relevant ones for the book.

TSG: Is there a particular story that you heard from an executive that you find yourself still thinking about today?

Peter Sims: John Donahoe, a great leader, summarized what we learned best, “It’s a process, not a destination.” He described how he grew through each stage of his career. Starting in his first job, he felt he had the world at his finger-tips - he didn’t know what he didn’t know. Soon, he had to begin to learn how to balance values tradeoffs between his personal and professional life and even signed a pledge to his wife on the back of a bank receipt, “I will not lead the life of a typical management consultant.” Then, in his 30s, mentors helped John understand how to overcome a fear of failure. He also experienced difficult setbacks or “crucibles” that helped him to develop perspective and self-awareness - to be more comfortable in his own skin. Lastly, he has refined his own effective leadership style, in which he has become a great leader and developer of people (which I know from speaking with those who work for him). He does all this while being the same person at home as he is at work, something that is not easy for anyone to achieve, and he shared a number of helpful tactics about how he does it. Getting there is indeed a process and everyone is at a different stage of their growth.

TSG: What was your role in co-authoring the book?

Peter Sims: Throughout the course of developing the book, I led the research, including managing our research team and making sense from the 3,000 pages of transcripts. Bill brought over 30 years of management and leadership expertise and we did a lot of concept-building and writing together. Then, Bill did the final edit before it went to press. What fueled me throughout was the desire to share the key lessons we learned as clearly and concisely as possible with our readers.

TSG: Your next chapter focuses around leading innovation. How has that evolved?

Peter Sims: Over the past few years, I developed a closely related interest: how do individuals and organizations better innovate? Like before, I started reading the relevant research and had hundreds of discussions with CEOs, managers, experts, and organizations like IDEO that specialize in innovation. Innovation has become almost a generic term, but the emerging field of design thinking provides some tested and insightful innovation processes and principles - ranging from customer need-finding techniques to rapid, low-cost approaches to experimentation - that will soon be required reading for every MBA, CEO, and corporate or nonprofit manager. A.G. Lafley, CEO of Proctor & Gamble, is one example of someone who leads innovation in this way, and with enormous success. The Stanford University Institute of Design (the d.school), is a remarkable place for innovation thinking, doing, companies, and experts.

TSG: The topic of innovation is not new, but what do you think are the keys to successful innovation today?

Peter Sims: There are many best practices designed to help make incremental innovations. However, the main question that CEOs ask me about is how to achieve breakthrough innovations, especially since the failure to do so will lead to irrelevance. Entrepreneurs are usually the best examples of executing this type of innovation because they don’t overanalyze - they act as quickly and inexpensively as possible to identify unique market opportunities. It’s a mindset. Similarly, Beethoven used countless experiments to gradually differentiate his music from Mozart’s established brand of classical music. Beethoven learned from small failures and built upon his successes such that he eventually built the movement toward a new era of classical music. Amazon executives have used a similar mindset to continuously use experiments to identify ground-breaking innovations such as the Kindle, just as Toyota has done with the Prius. That innovative mindset comes naturally for many entrepreneurs and pioneering leaders, but it doesn’t fit easily within traditional management or strategic thinking. Combining the rigor of strategic thinking with the dynamism of an innovative mindset is the future of leading innovation - a handful of insights and approaches will help guide the way.

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More about Peter Sims:

While studying at Stanford Business School, Peter established “Leadership Perspectives,” which is now one of the school’s most sought-after classes. His work has been published in Harvard Business Review, Fortune, and The Huffington Post and he has spoken at and advised organizations such as Eli Lilly, Molson Coors, Current TV, American Data Network, and Gallup. Previously, he was part of establishing and building the European Office of Summit Partners, a leading global investment company, where he worked with hundreds of the world’s most innovative companies and served as part of the Deloitte Touche Tomatsu Global Strategy Team.

To consider Peter as a speaker for your organization, contact The Speakers Group speakers bureau or visit Peter’s speaker profile page on The Speakers Group’s web site at http://www.thespeakersgroup.com/Peter_Sims.

Posted under In the Spotlight, Innovation Speakers, Leadership Development, Organizational Excellence

After 10 years of flying supersonic fighter jets in the United States Air Force, Danny Cox joined one of the nation’s largest sales companies. A year later, he was promoted to sales manager and guided his office in its industry-leading, record-breaking pace of doubling, tripling and quadrupling old records.

Four years after joining the corporation, Danny was promoted to First Vice President and assigned a district of eight offices and a staff of over 140. His salespeople increased production 800% in a five-and-a-half-year period - and that included two recession years. Morale and productivity soared, and percentage of employee turnover dropped to near zero.

The point? Danny Cox knows something about “Leadership When the Heat’s On.” There is never a greater need for innovative leadership and teamwork than in challenging economic conditions as we face right now. Here are a few leadership maxims from Danny’s “Leader’s Dozen” to help today’s leaders:

1. The ultimate reward for the leader of people is to be able to say at the end of the day, “I saw someone grow today and I helped.”
2. To achieve great things, know more than the average manager considers necessary.
3. An organization quits improving right after the manager does.
4. Help a team member grow and you receive respect in return.
5. On a scale of 1-10, team morale and customer service receive the same score.
6. Be aware of a team member’s weaknesses but talk to his or her strengths.

If you would like to receive the full “Leader’s Dozen” of leadership maxims, contact The Speakers Group today. To learn more about how a Danny Cox keynote presentation could add value to your next meeting, view his speaker profile here: http://www.thespeakersgroup.com/Danny_Cox.

Posted under Leadership Development, Motivational Speakers, Organizational Excellence, Sales Management, Speaker Recommendations

Peter Sims is a best-selling co-author and strategic adviser specializing in leadership and innovation. He is the coauthor (with Bill George) of True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership, the BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal bestselling book that New York Times called “one of the most important books on leadership to come along in years.” His work has been featured in Harvard Business Review and The Huffington Post and he has spoken at or advised organizations such as Eli Lilly, Molson Coors, Stanford Business School, Gallup, and the University of Cincinnati.

To view Peter Sims’ full profile and learn more about his keynote presentations on leadership and innovation, visit his page on The Speakers Group’s web site at http://www.thespeakersgroup.com/Peter_Sims.

Posted under Leadership Development, Speaker Preview Videos

Passion is the driving force behind Robert Thompson’s success. As a sought-after speaker and executive coach, Robert’s passion for personal and professional leadership touches the lives of thousands of people every year. Through the Tom Peters Company, Robert facilitated a number of corporate workshops including the highly acclaimed “The Leadership Challenge,” and he continues to be a founding Master Facilitator for the program. Robert’s distinguished list of clients includes Amgen, AT&T, California State University, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Sony, Sun Microsystems, The Gap, Visa and many more. In his recently released first book, The Offsite, Robert draws on the leadership theories in the management classic, The Leadership Challenge, to create a dynamic fable of leadership and growth centered around the ever-popular corporate offsite event.

To learn more about Robert Thompson, view his profile at http://www.thespeakersgroup.com/Robert_Thompson.

Posted under Leadership Development, Speaker Preview Videos

Founder and Chairman of Mandalay Entertainment, the visionary multimedia venture spanning movies, TV, sports, and new media, Peter Guber is perhaps the most successful executive in the entertainment industry. Films he personally produced or executed produced - including Rain Man, The Color Purple, The Witches of Eastwick, Flashdance and Batman - have resonated with audiences all over the world, earning over three billion dollars worldwide and garnering more than fifty Academy Award nominations.

Peter is also an empowering motivational keynote speaker, helping business professionals understand how to utilize the power of storytelling to achieve greater success in leadership, sales, marketing, and other endeavors. Peter obviously knows something about the power of a story, so we were thrilled to hear his insights on the subject during our “In the Spotlight” interview session with him.

TSG: You’ve achieved - and continue to achieve - the kind of success that many of us aspire to. What do you count as the biggest key to your success?

Peter Guber: Oral storytelling. While struggling to identify what separated my successes from my failures - and believe me, I’ve had plenty of failures - I realized in every endeavor I needed to convince someone or a group of someones to do something. Why was I able to do this sometimes but not most of the time? What I discovered was when I connected emotionally through an oral story, embedding the information I wanted to share with my listener inside the story experience, I was able to convince, motivate, incite, excite, galvanize and persuade far more effectively and consistently than when I presented with soulless bullets, facts and figures. Without a doubt, this is the biggest key to my success. The best news of all is that this can be the key to everyone’s success. We are hard wired to be storytellers. What I aspire to do is shine the light on this talent, providing the key to unlock each individual’s storytelling ability to its maximum potential.

TSG: As you look back on your career, what do you count as your greatest success/accomplishment?

Peter Guber: Being a full professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television for almost four decades. I have always believed that knowledge is power and that those who have achieved power should give back by empowering others.

TSG: And what has been the greatest challenge you’ve encountered - either personally, or as a leader - to getting to where you are now?

Peter Guber: My greatest challenge has been attempting to identify what separates success from failure. What I discovered was that inside each success were the seeds of failure and vice versa. So, what’s the difference maker? Without wanting to sound repetitive, the difference in my experience, has been telling and selling through the oral story.

TSG: What are the defining characteristics of a successful business in the entertainment industry, and how are they similar or different from those of a successful business in retail, professional services, technology, or other industries?

Peter Guber: Make no mistake, the entertainment industry is as results-focused and brutally competitive as Wall Street. The defining characteristic of a successful business in the entertainment industry, as in all industries, is providing a product or service that resonates with or solves a problem for a specific market for which people will pay. You are always striving for competitive advantage. There is always someone breathing down your neck. You can never rest on your laurels. Technology can be disruptive in a positive way or catastrophic, depending on how you’ve “read” the future. You must compete in a global, flattened world. If you are a public company, you must answer to shareholders. And finally and most importantly, you must confront head on your fear of failure and take risks - or, risk a certain failure since holding on to the status quo is a ticket to distress - regardless of your industry!

TSG: It’s obvious that storytelling is at the core of the movie business, but how do we incorporate storytelling into other businesses?

Peter Guber: Every business has a story as does every person employed in that business. Businesses that fail to perpetuate their stories miss an opportunity to create a culture that reinforces the values, behaviors and norms that can fortify their goals. For the individual, it is the oral story that will enable them to propel sales, manage better, lead more effectively, inspire creativity, forge deeper relationships, communicate change, problem solve and a host of other day to day challenges every working professional faces.

TSG: You developed a course at UCLA’s film school called “Navigating a Narrative World,” and your guest lecturers ranged from Chris Anderson to Deepak Chopra to Mark Burnett to Pat Riley to Tony Robbins. What is that course about, that such a wide variety of individuals could contribute?

Peter Guber: Great question! The course is about the universality of the oral narrative and its centrality to the success of individuals across every industry and profession. So, Chopra spoke to the narrative of wellness. Riley spoke to the narrative of sport. We had 22 extraordinary leaders, generously give their time to share how they use the oral narrative in their different industries. The class itself was inter-disciplinary as graduate students came from the schools of Law, Public Policy, Business and Theater, Film and Television. It was truly an amazing experience.

TSG: As if you weren’t busy enough, you’re also on the speaking circuit delivering a motivational keynote presentation. First, how do you find time to get out and speak? And second, what is the message you’re sharing?

Peter Guber: You make time for things that are important to you. So, yes, I run five highly successful, time intensive businesses. Yet, I make the time because giving back by helping others become more successful is what I am most passionate about. My message is simple. Oral storytelling is the secret to success. It can bring you closer to your target, more quickly and make your journey far more joyous and fulfilling. What’s more, you don’t need any special talent. You’ve been telling stories all your life. It’s no risk, high reward.

TSG: You say there is MAGIC to success… what is that “MAGIC”?

Peter Guber: Figuratively there is a MAGIC to how oral storytelling melts resistance, galvanizes others and can incite viral advocacy for your product, service or cause. Literally, I use it as an acronym to help business professionals learn the process I developed to sharpen their oral storytelling skills. It stands for Motivate your Audience to your Goal Interactively while surrendering Control.

TSG: You have stated that “what if” is more powerful than “how to” in a story. Would you talk a bit about that?

Peter Guber: “What if” opens the door to possibility. In oral storytelling you need to open the mind of your listener for them to open their hearts and then their wallets. “How to” describes a process. It lacks the emotional connection and subsequent resonation as “what if.”

TSG: What types of audiences do you like to speak to?

Peter Guber: Any audience who needs to convince someone or someones to do something. This pretty much covers the entire spectrum of businesses and industries. When I shine the light on a business professional’s oral storytelling ability and see his “ah-ha!,” I know this person has been empowered to try something that can propel his success. There is no entertainment award that can be as fulfilling as this experience is for me.

TSG: Is there anything you’ve noticed in the entertainment industry that you think is missing from mainstream corporate America?

Peter Guber: Very broadly speaking, as an inherently creative industry, the entertainment industry embraces risk and nonconformist personalities far more than mainstream corporate America does. While many companies in corporate America seek to improve their problem solving and innovation skills, they fail to create a culture that supports out of the box thinking, true inclusion and risk taking. In fact, the culture of many mainstream companies is one of very fitting in and not making waves. While this philosophy may not rock the boat, it won’t rock the vote either.

TSG: We’ve talked about how your work as an entertainment executive is not so different from that of executives in other industries, but not everyone gets to work with the Who’s Who of Hollywood as you have for the past 30 years. Before we go, are there any fun/interesting celebrity stories you can share?

Peter Guber: Yes. Since I discussed risk taking as part of my answer to your earlier question, a story about a dear friend of mine and one of America’s finest directors who recently past, Sydney Pollack, comes to mind. We were producing Rain Man. The biggest directors had worked on this project tirelessly, each for over one year, only to ultimately pass. They included Marty Brest and Steven Spielberg. Next, Sydney Pollack committed to direct the movie and we worked diligently on moving it forward. Sydney called me to ask if we could meet to discuss one remaining issue. Sydney, at the meeting, stated. “At this point in my life, I want first position producer credit myself.” Well, I thought, “I’m in that position, too.” I knew if I left the office without resolving this problem, Sydney might walk. But, surrender wasn’t part of my goal. I asked Sydney if he was willing to let fate decide. He said, “Sure.” So, I pulled out a dime. “Heads, you get first producer’s credit, tails, I get first producer’s credit,” “Ok,” he said. I won. One week later, Sydney withdrew from the project. I guess I lost. But, I didn’t give up.

What changed on a dime was not the producer credit, but my mission to get the movie made. It turned on one flip of the coin! The epilogue is I got Barry Levinson to direct the movie who brought in his own line producer. There was no time for flipping coins. I agreed to his request for a credit change. The epilogue to the epilogue is that Rain Man won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screenplay. At the Academy Awards, Sydney was seated a few rows behind me. When we won the Oscar for Best Picture, I reached in my pocket and held up to him the same dime which I was determined to make into my lucky charm. Perhaps if I hadn’t been willing to turn on a dime that day, Rain Man would never have won Best Picture honors. To Sydney’s credit, he gave me a thumbs up as we received the award.

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For more information about Peter Guber and his motivational keynote presentations, please view his speaker profile page at http://www.thespeakersgroup.com/Peter_Guber or contact The Speakers Group at (615) 866-1062.

Posted under In the Spotlight, Leadership Development, Motivational Speakers, Organizational Excellence, Sales Management